Book I. Tland of BARBADOS. Bt 
and where the more folid is dug out, if the Veins are upon, or very near 
the Surface, fcarce any Vegetable grows upon it. uy 
If by Accident any of thefe Veins take Fire, they continue to burn a 
long time, tho’ in a dull flow manner : For, as the Veins are furrounded 
with Earth, this crumbles, and, falling into the Flame, ftifles it. 
There was an Inftance of this in Sz. Yobn’s Parifh, where a Slave roaft- 
ing Potatoes upon the Side of an Hill, a {mall Vein of Bitumen, lying very 
near the Surface, took Fire, and continued flowly to burn, tho’ fometimes 
{carce perceptibly, for above Five Years, without the leaft Danger to the 
Neighbourhood. 
If the inquifitive Monf. Le Clere had more narrowly inquired into the ee Clere’s 
Nature of Bituminous Foffils, and the Soilswherein they are always found, confuted. 
he would not, in all Probability, have been fo tenacious of his favourite, 
tho’ groundlefs Opinion ; viz. That the Deftruétion of Sodom and Go- 
morrah was not fupernatural ; but that the Plain, upon which they ftood, 
was full of Bitumen, which, enkindled by Lightning, deftroyed the Cities 
and Plains thereof. 
Let us now examine this fine-fpun Conjecture : If this Deftru@ion was 
caufed in this natural Way, the Suppofition will require as much a Miracle 
to bring it about, as if he had fuffered Mo/es’s Defcription to be true: 
For here muft be fuch Veins of Bitumen found, as will kindlein an Inftant; 
and the Lightning muft be, as it were, as extenfive as the whole Plain; 
whereas the Bitumen, that is now in {mall Quantities found in the Sides of 
the adjoining Hills (and, in all Probability, ever was found there, and not 
in the Valley), is of a Coal-like Subftance, like that found in Barbados ; 
and is far from being capable, in a natural Way, of caufing fo quick 
a Deftru€ion: For if thefe Plains and Cities were by this natural 
Means deftroyed, the Caufe muft be as extenfive as the Effe@ : And, as 
thefe Plains were Seventy-four Miles long, and Eighteen broad, they muft 
be wholly, or in fuch a Part, impregnated with this imflammable Matter, 
as to be capable by its Quality, and fuflicient by its Quantity; to caufe fo 
general a Deftruétion: But that thefe Plains were not wholly, nor in fo 
great a Part, fufliciently ftored with fuch combuftible Ingredients, will 
evidently appear, if we allow, as furely we muft, that Nature is as confaft- 
ent in her Produétions of this kind, as fhe is in other Minerals, Foflils, 
and Vegetables. 
Neither the Cedars of Lebanon, nor the Mountain Oaks, are found in 
‘any Climate growing in wet Marfhes; nor Reeds nor Rufhes upon the 
Tops of dry Mountains. 
This is an Obfervation as early as the Time of Job: Can the Rufb grow 
without Mire, and the Flag without Water 2 
Virgil likewife gives it in the following Lines : 
Nec vero terre ferre omnes omnia poffunt. 
Pluminibus falices, craffifg; paludibus alni Stee 
Nafcuntur, freriles faxofis montibus orni. Littora 
